Making data more meaningful

This year, Auckland may have been voted the 4th best city in the world to live in, but with a main street peppered with people begging for money and huffing glue, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. There are people seriously struggling to get by. Behind the scenes, Auckland Communities Foundation is hard at work raising money to make Auckland a good place to live – for everyone. So when they asked for our help, we had to say yes.

The job was to create a Summary Report that Auckland Communities Foundation could distribute to raise awareness and inspire generosity. As the name of the publication “Macro Auckland” suggests, the Summary Report took an up close look at Aucklanders and life in Auckland. However, when faced with large volumes of data it can be difficult to visualise – and absorb - what these results really mean.

This project produced a challenge that many B2B and technological companies encounter on a regular basis – we needed to communicate oodles of statistics and potentially dry data in an interesting and engaging way.

To evoke a philanthropic response, it was essential the data connected on an emotional level as well as an academic one. We took inspiration from world-renowned data visualist David McCandless, and used graphic iconography, quirky images, and bold, modern shapes to breathe life into the complicated data. 

Last year we created the branding for the Auckland Communities Foundation. This distinct look formed the skeleton of our design approach for the publication. We added some meat by expanding the brand’s colour palate with a playful colour scheme of eye-catching hues to represent different sections within the book. The use of colour combined with graphic imagery injected some fun and made the information pop.

By visualising the data in an aesthetically-pleasing, easy-to-use format, the key points gained clarity and the book became an interesting source of information. Instead of mind-numbing wads of statistics and walls of text, the fresh use of colour, imagery and white space made the publication an irresistible piece to flick through and an enjoyable read.

10,000 copies of the book were printed and sent to business heads, big wigs, sponsors, donators and supporters of all stripes.

According to Mark Bentley, CEO of the Auckland Communities Foundation, “Our 2011 Summary Report was an enormous success. It received an outstanding response from the business community, effectively raised the profile of the Auckland Communities Foundation and instigated a flood of donations. I couldn’t be happier with the result.”

If you have complex data that you’d like to transform into an accessible, user-friendly format for public consumption, or you’d like to utilise your data to elicit a response, call Steve Ballantyne on 09 950 2144 or 021 744 960.